Pieces
by DreaminDaze
Summary: JJ comes back with one person in mind. Oneshot. Please read and review.


**My first attempt at Criminal Minds fanfiction. A oneshot, what I dearly want to happen. The sudden jump into this can be blamed on the amazing couple that is JJ and Hotch. Mistakes are mine, nothing else is. Please let me know what you think, reviews are golden. **

**For somebody who means a heck of a lot.

* * *

**

**Pieces**

Five people look up when she walks purposefully back into the BAU bullpen like she belongs there. Like she hasn't been away for months. Like she's coming back from the coffee shop.

"Hey guys." She greets her team. Casual, comfortable.

"Are you back? How are you?" They're out of their seats and around her in an instant. She embraces them one at a time.

JJ watches Derek reluctantly hand over a twenty to Emily and knows the female profiler got it right as always. Their hands linger a little too long and JJ wonders if they've finally come to their senses. Garcia pinches Reid's cheek and Rossi looks on happily.

"Em, can I…" JJ tilts her head. Best friend talk. Emily understands and follows her, leaving the rest of them to their celebration.

JJ is reluctant to ask. "Where is he?"

"Up in his office." She answers sadly. "Only comes down here when he has to."

"Have any of you tried talking to him?"

"It's not us he wants to see."

JJ rubs her forehead, and when she looks up again Emily sees the hesitation in her eyes. Jennifer Jareau, who walks toe to toe with evil, is biting her lip like a nervous child. "What do I say?" She asks.

Emily puts her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Tell him why you came back."

She gives JJ's shoulder a final squeeze and walks back to the group. JJ takes a deep breath, brushes some hair from her face and starts up the stairs to Hotch's office.

"What's goin' on?" Derek asks as soon as Emily is back at his side.

She leans her head on his shoulder. "You're about to owe me another twenty."

* * *

She doesn't bother knocking like she once would've. She doesn't call him 'Sir' like she once felt like she had to. Just opens the door watches him slowly look up and meet her eyes. Christ, he looks tired. And not just sleep deprived like usual, but a careworn, bottom of his soul tired, that she's only seen once. When he lost Haley.

"Hotch." After all these months, his name, out loud, still sounds like music.

Something ignites in his eyes that she can't quite decipher, and he stands up and walks around his desk to be closer to her. "What are you doing here JJ?" His voice barely above a whisper.

"It's Christmas and…" She trails off, shrugging her shoulders. She hopes he can hear the words she's left unsaid. _And I missed you. I wanted to see you. I made a mistake, agreeing to take that job._

The _something_ in his eyes disappears as quickly as it appeared and she knows he didn't hear what she didn't say. _Damn it._

"Aaron." She takes a step closer and he takes a step back. "I resigned, from the pentagon."

He stares. "JJ, that was an amazing opportunity."

"Someone else can have it." She shakes her head." But I couldn't stand the thought of someone else for this team, and for you."

"Strauss is not going to be pleased." He's worried, she can tell. But did he really just miss the part where she said she came back for him?

"Well Strauss can kiss my ass." She declares, and after a few seconds she shyly admits, "And I-I missed you Aaron."

He nods. "I'll put the papers through. Have you back at work in the new year."

"I missed you." She says again, because she needs something other than professionalism from him, after all these years.

He knows what she's trying to say, but he doesn't quite know how to respond. So he opens his arms a little, an invitation to step into them. She does. She wraps her hands around his waist and his fold tentatively across her back. JJ feels his hesitation, so she holds him tighter, a never-let-you-go kind of tight hug she's only shared with her son before.

"Can you really do that?" She asks, without letting go or looking at him. "Get me my job back?"

One of his hands slides upward, to the base of her neck, as he inhales her scent. He knows then that he would do anything for her. "You let me worry about that."

JJ nods, relaxing into his embrace, and they stand like that for a long time. Hotch feels settled and JJ feels so at peace. When she reluctantly took the job at the pentagon, months ago, everything Hotch knew had been thrown into chaos. Like a puzzle, shaken apart. Except that when he wanted to put it back together, he couldn't, because of the piece that was missing. JJ. And with that piece - her - missing, he couldn't see the picture.

But having her back, everything made sense. She was the piece that was missing, and with her all of sudden the picture was crystal clear.

And it was beautiful.


End file.
